A marriage can go on for some time, with normal ups-and-downs, until something causes a delicate balance to falter. Maya and Adam, both physicians, have been married for over a decade. Both would like to have children, but Maya has been unable to carry a pregnancy to term. The reason for this is unclear. When a doctor suggests that scarring from an abortion could be the cause, Maya must tell the doctor and her husband that when she was a teenager, she had an abortion. Adam is angry that Maya had not told him that sooner, and a rift develops between them.
Maya is close with her sister Rebecca, who is also a physician. But while Maya and Adam are in comfortable suburban practices in the Triangle, Rebecca jets to emergency sites around the world as a member of Doctors International Disaster Aid (DIDA). Rebecca has long tried to persuade Maya and Adam to join her, even for just one trip. Shortly after Maya and Adam’s fateful discussion in the doctor’s office, a Category Four hurricane hits Wilmington. Maya and Adam agree to join the DIDA team.
As the three work together, Rebecca comes to realize that she envies her sister and the stable life that she leads. When Maya is on a helicopter that goes down in flood-waters, Rebecca and Adam are drawn together in their fear and grief. They do not know that Maya is alive, taken in by an odd collection–good and bad–of backwoods people. As the sisters struggle with these new situations, each reflects on her life, and the great trauma of their youth–the murder of their parents. Each has a secret related to that awful event.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
